Our project Shore to Shore
The concept
Introduction
The history
The method
The process
- The writing (day 1): the participants are accompanied in writing a text (dialogue or monologue) relating a significant personal experience. At the end of this process, each participant reads his text to the group.
- The stage direction (days 2-5): all the texts are read out by professional actors. Then each participant individually and in turn begins putting his own text on stage. He/she directs the actors, sets the stage, plays with lights, chooses the music, etc. A professional director accompanies each participant along for the whole process, which can take up to 2-3 hours, to produce a short play of 5-10 minutes.All participants attend each process of stage direction as spectators.
- The final performance (last day): All the pieces are presented as a single entity to the participants and their families and friends.
Writing DAY 2
Stage direction DAY 3
Stage direction DAY 4
Stage direction DAY 5 (evening)
Final performance
The impact
The Theater of Living Experience allows to view a traumatic experience from a new standpoint and to reveal the resources and competences that such experience awakens in each individual. A different value and meaning can be attributed to the painful event.
Furthermore, the personal story once shared on stage becomes everybody’s story, it becomes the bridge connecting the individual with his/her own community. Becoming aware of others’ struggle enables us to take a distance from our own suffering and to see it as part of a much wider picture.
As the stage-director of their own stories, the participants discover a new sense of empowerment in the way they can influence their own life.
The project Shore to Shore
It aims at:
- Preventing of violence and encouraging empathy towards oneself and others
- Transforming a traumatic experience through a creative approach
- Promoting mutual support and respect withinn and between communities in conflict
Means | Objectives * |
---|---|
Taking distance from the painful event | Improved coping capacity with the suffering associated with a negative event |
Sharing one’s suffering with other participants | Decreased sense of loneliness and isolation, sense of belonging to the community. Increased sense of empathy towards oneself and others |
Becoming stage-director of one’s own life experience | Increased awareness of one’s personal power to make creative choices and influence the community (empowerment) |
Transforming a painful experience in a symbolic artistic theatrical representation | Transformation of the negative perception of a life experience with an increased sense of meaning and value |
*The objectives are based on the evaluation of the impact of the program in the last 12 y
Our mid-term goal is to transfer the method of Theatre of Living Experience and the competences necessary to its implementation to local organisations and teams. As a second step of the project we also aim at using the theatre pieces as a tool for reflection and exchange in educational contexts (schools, non-profit organisations, etc.) both in Israel, in the Palestinian Territories and in Switzerland.
Our long-term goal is that non-profit organisations in the Palestinian Territories and Israel can easily benefit from the effects of the Theatre of Living Experience.
The team
Benedetta Barabino, Geneva
PROJECT MANAGER
Valentine Sergo, Geneva
Stage Director
In addition she conducts theater workshops in the field of health care as well as workshops aiming at creating connections between foreign communities living in Switzerland. She collaborates on a regular basis with the Foundation Research and Training for Patient Education and the Geneva University Hospital (HUG).
Mai Shahin, Bethany
Local Project Manager
Teohna Williams, Geneva
Actor
Goni Zilberman, Jerusalem
Filmaker and Photographer
The concept
The concept
Introduction
The history
The method
The process
- The writing (day 1): the participants are accompanied in writing a text (dialogue or monologue) relating a significant personal experience. At the end of this process, each participant reads his text to the group.
- The stage direction (days 2-5): all the texts are read out by professional actors. Then each participant individually and in turn begins putting his own text on stage. He/she directs the actors, sets the stage, plays with lights, chooses the music, etc. A professional director accompanies each participant along for the whole process, which can take up to 2-3 hours, to produce a short play of 5-10 minutes.All participants attend each process of stage direction as spectators.
- The final performance (last day): All the pieces are presented as a single entity to the participants and their families and friends.
Writing DAY 2
Stage direction DAY 3
Stage direction DAY 4
Stage direction DAY 5 (evening)
Final performance
The impact
The Theater of Living Experience allows to view a traumatic experience from a new standpoint and to reveal the resources and competences that such experience awakens in each individual. A different value and meaning can be attributed to the painful event.
Furthermore, the personal story once shared on stage becomes everybody’s story, it becomes the bridge connecting the individual with his/her own community. Becoming aware of others’ struggle enables us to take a distance from our own suffering and to see it as part of a much wider picture.
As the stage-director of their own stories, the participants discover a new sense of empowerment in the way they can influence their own life.
The project Shore to Shore
The project Shore to Shore
It aims at:
- Preventing of violence and encouraging empathy towards oneself and others
- Transforming a traumatic experience through a creative approach
- Promoting mutual support and respect withinn and between communities in conflict
Means | Objectives * |
---|---|
Taking distance from the painful event | Improved coping capacity with the suffering associated with a negative event |
Sharing one’s suffering with other participants | Decreased sense of loneliness and isolation, sense of belonging to the community. Increased sense of empathy towards oneself and others |
Becoming stage-director of one’s own life experience | Increased awareness of one’s personal power to make creative choices and influence the community (empowerment) |
Transforming a painful experience in a symbolic artistic theatrical representation | Transformation of the negative perception of a life experience with an increased sense of meaning and value |
*The objectives are based on the evaluation of the impact of the program in the last 12 y
Our mid-term goal is to transfer the method of Theatre of Living Experience and the competences necessary to its implementation to local organisations and teams. As a second step of the project we also aim at using the theatre pieces as a tool for reflection and exchange in educational contexts (schools, non-profit organisations, etc.) both in Israel, in the Palestinian Territories and in Switzerland.
Our long-term goal is that non-profit organisations in the Palestinian Territories and Israel can easily benefit from the effects of the Theatre of Living Experience.
The team
The team
Benedetta Barabino, Geneva
PROJECT MANAGER
Valentine Sergo, Geneva
Stage Director
In addition she conducts theater workshops in the field of health care as well as workshops aiming at creating connections between foreign communities living in Switzerland. She collaborates on a regular basis with the Foundation Research and Training for Patient Education and the Geneva University Hospital (HUG).
Mai Shahin, Bethany
Local Project Manager
Teohna Williams, Geneva
Actor
Goni Zilberman, Jerusalem
Filmaker and Photographer